Mobile Phones to Replace your Wallet – Pay Using Mobile Phone

Forget about credit cards, cash or ID. Your smartphone is going to be your wallet very soon. Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and few others are working on the ‘NFC (near field communication) mobile payment technology’ to change the future of payment systems. NFC allows wireless transfer of data over short distances between two devices. This makes it an ideal technology for financial transactions between a phone and/or a device at any store. NFC is still in development phase in the U.S. But in Japan you can pay for almost anything by simply swiping your phone. No need for credit cards, cash or even ID. This year NFC might take off in the U.S., and many companies are working on their own NFC payment solutions.

Google Mobile Payments

Android includes NFC support, but most Android phones don’t yet carry NFC chips. This hasn’t deterred Google from running in-store mobile payment tests. Google is said to be partnered with Mastercard, VeriFone and Citigroup to create an NFC payment system that might launch this year. It also acquired NFC startup Zetawire last year.

Apple Mobile Payments

NFC is coming to the iPhone 5. Apple has been testing NFC payments on its Cupertino campus for months.

Microsoft Mobile Payments

Microsoft hopes to get NFC into its OS this year, which would be a huge boost to its Nokia partnership. Nokia is already committed to NFC.

Amazon Mobile Payments

Amazon is exploring the idea of its own mobile payment service to compete with Apple and Google. Amazon already has Amazon Payments, and has popular apps on both iOS and Android, but it doesn’t have an NFC product yet.

AT&T, Verizon & T-Mobile – Mobile Payments

These networks teamed up last year to announce Isis which is a joint venture between the networks to facilitate the addition of NFC technology into their phones.